


The Wedding

by Magnetism_bind



Category: Black Sails
Genre: 69 (Sex Position), Absence, Communications - Freeform, Complicated Relationships, Dad!Silver, Domestic, Emotionally Repressed, Everyone is snarky, F/M, Family Feels, Farewells, First Kiss, Friendship, Help?, I know they all live on islands but still, Jealousy, Love Confessions, M/M, Other, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Punching, Reunions, Silver bites his lip a lot?, So many conversations, The beginning of it really, Weddings, makes the heart grow fonder and all that, so many conversations on the beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:47:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25019518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magnetism_bind/pseuds/Magnetism_bind
Summary: It's been four years since Thomas Hamilton and James McGraw were reunited. Four years of happiness and contentment. There is only one thing that Thomas still desires to make his happiness complete.And if he needs John Silver to make it happen? Well, he's always been a determined man.
Relationships: Captain Flint | James McGraw/John Silver, Captain Flint | James McGraw/Thomas Hamilton, Madi/John Silver
Comments: 8
Kudos: 92





	The Wedding

**Author's Note:**

> There are a few scenes where I refer to James as Flint, because it felt right, but for the most part I call him James in this story. The Flint scenes are intentional. That is all.

“Why not?”

“Why does it matter so much?” James says back. They’ve been at this same topic for the past week. Thomas won’t let it go and now they’re in bed and still discussing it. Frankly, it’s not helping matters.

“Why does it matter?” Thomas repeats with a puzzled expression. “How can you not understand?”

“I just… you were married. As far as I’m concerned, you still are.” James sits, up, sheets pooling around his waist. “Don’t you miss Miranda?” He knows it’s a ridiculous question. Of course Thomas misses Miranda, just as he does. 

“It’s not that I don’t miss Miranda. It’s that I do.” Thomas puts a hand on his shoulder. “She was one of the best parts of my life, and definitely one of the happiest. I will adore her forever.” He’s silent for a moment. “I miss her every day. But she’s gone and you’re here.”

There’s a moment of silence before James speaks. “It still feels…wrong.”

Thomas sighs in frustration. Why must James always be so stubborn? “Is it because you don’t have anyone to stand up with you?” He’s thought about that before and discarded the notion because he knows that the sort of man James is, and has been always. He's been able to stand on his own two feet his entire life. Thomas had always thought that it wouldn’t matter. That the past truly was behind them now, but now he's not sure.

“What?” That hadn’t even occurred to James.

“Well if you had someone to act as your best man, your second, as it were, perhaps you would be more inclined…”

“It’s not that.” James’s tone cuts short.

Now that Thomas has said it though, he can picture only one man in that position and that man is far away in Nassau. Still he has to know.

“Would you ask him?” Thomas says softly.

James bites back a laugh. Trust Thomas to know where his thoughts wander. “He wouldn’t come.” He says absently, folding his arm behind his head as he stares into the darkness.

“What if he would?”

At that James lets himself laugh at last. “If you could get John Silver to agree to come, then yes, I’ll marry you on the day of your choosing, whenever, wherever, however you like.” His tone makes it perfectly clear how likely that scenario is.

Thomas sits up in bed. “Do you truly agree to that?”

“Thomas…”

“Do you?”

“I give you my word.” James declares and kisses him. Still laughing, he presses Thomas down on the bed and draws the sheets over the both of them in the dark.

* * * 

It’s late the next day when James returns home to find a note that simply says, “ _I’ll return soon. T.”_

“Damn it.” James crumples it. He knows exactly where Thomas has gone. He should have known. Damn Thomas, and damn John Fucking Silver.

He walks along the shoreline, scanning the horizon, but he knows that Thomas would have secured the quickest passage possible. He’s never been the sort of man to waste time, not when he has a goal in mind. And on this he has persistent to the point of maddening. 

James stands there on the shore, staring out the waves. _Damnit, Thomas, why did you have to go?_

* * *

_Nassau_

Thomas studies the blue faded door with the sparrow painted over its handle. It’s a modest house on a small side street in Nassau, although it is on the more respectable side of the town. He’s not sure what he expected, but it wasn’t precisely this. It doesn’t fit the legends of John Silver that he's acquired over the years.

He knocks.

After a long time the door swings open and he finds himself looking down at a small girl with light brown skin and wide inquisitive eyes.

“Hello.” Thomas says in surprise.

The child regards him thoughtfully. “Hello.”

“Hold on there.” A man comes up behind the child, grabbing the door. “What did I tell you about opening the door?” He glances up at Thomas and stops dead in his tracks.

This Thomas hadn’t expected either. He’s formed a good many opinions of the infamous John Silver over the last four years, but none of them prepared him for the actual meeting of him. To be fair, he’s gone back and forth whether it would actually ever happen. Some days he thought yes, others, no.

These days John Silver is a lean, dark-haired man with a trim beard and a head of curly dark hair that frankly puts a Greek god to shame. It nearly reaches his shoulders he stands there in the doorway, gazing at Thomas with intense, wary eyes.

“Come in.” He says at last.

Thomas follows, surprised he didn’t have to say anything. That Silver apparently recognized him as quickly as he did him. Although maybe he shouldn't be surprised at all. Maybe Silver's thought about him as much as Thomas has him.

He follows Silver down a hallway into a kitchen and watches as Silver sets the little girl on the floor and offers her a toy wooden horse. She accepts it, looking up at Thomas curiously as she settles on the floor to play.

Meanwhile Silver reaches up to a shelf above the table and takes down a jug. He pours himself a decent amount of what smells like rum and downs it in one smooth go. He sets the empty glass down and rests his hands on the table with satisfaction.

“There.” He looks up at Thomas. “Remind me to tell my wife that I won.”

“The two of you made a wager on it?” Thomas inquires, curious.

“She said he would come; I said it’d be you.” Silver shrugs. “I thought it would take longer, to be honest, possibly not till he was on his death bed.” He pauses, for a long enough moment that Thomas knows he doesn’t want to ask the question nor hear the answer. “He’s not, is he?”

“No, he’s in the best of health.” Thomas could close his eyes and see James as he left him that morning. Tousled hair, freckled shoulders, sheets lazily draped around his bare hips. Stronger perhaps, than the lean young man of their youth, who had been so full of yearning and potential. The man who shares his bed now is wiser, perhaps, but just as headstrong, just as passionate, just as…

“Figures.” Silver pours himself another drink and downs that too.

“If this is an indicator of your behavior, I understand James’s reluctance to contact you.” Thomas murmurs.

Silver chuckles, “And I definitely see why he cherished your memory all those long years,” he says sweetly.

He settles himself on the corner of the table, crossing his arms. “So why have you come to my home, Thomas Hamilton?”

“I wanted to ask a favor of you.”

Silver tilts his head in an interested manner. “Ask away then.”

Thomas takes a deep breath. “I wanted to ask you to attend our wedding.”

“Your what?” Silver stares at him stupidly.

“Our wedding. James and mine. As James’s best man.”

Silver’s dumbfounded. “You want me to leave my house, and go god knows where to attend the wedding of a man who, frankly, the last time I saw him, looked as though he would rather strangle me than invite me to such an occasion. Why?”

Right then, as Thomas starts to try to explain, although how can he possibly explain, the back door opens and a woman that Thomas knows has to be Madi, enters the kitchen.

She smiles at the little girl who scoots across the floor towards her and Madi picks her up. Then she sees Thomas. Her eyes widen in shock. She looks to Silver.

“I won.” Silver smirks at her. “You have to be on top tonight.”

The open crudity is slightly embarrassing but Thomas merely purses his lips.

Madi merely ignores it. “Have you offered our guest any refreshment?”

“I was going to.” Silver says indignantly. He goes over to kiss her mouth before turning to Thomas. “Tea, rum?”

“Tea, if you don’t mind.” Thomas glances at the child still playing happily on the floor, oblivious to the conversation happening over her head. 

Silver shrugs and gets the kettle, setting it over the fire.

Madi turns to Thomas. “It is a pleasure to meet you, after so long,” She holds her hand out and Thomas takes it. “He is well?”

“He is.” Thomas assures her. “He is very well.”

“Good, that is good to hear,” Relief shines briefly in Madi’s eyes. She clasps his hand briefly and then releases it. “So, what brings you here?”

“Well, as I was telling your husband, I wanted to invite the both of you to a wedding.” It only makes sense to invite Madi as well. And he knows that if James had truly given it any thought, he would have insisted on her invitation as well. Perhaps if Thomas had led with that idea, James would have been more on board.

“A wedding.” Madi’s eyes start to shine.

“His and James’s.” Silver drawls.

Madi ignores that too; she’s very good at ignoring certain comments of Silver’s, Thomas notices. The effect of marriage apparently, he supposes. Or the effects of Silver.

“When?”

"Two week’s time?” That would give them enough time in his estimate to return and arrange everything. He’s thought a bit about the actual ceremony, but only in vague patchy segments. The main thing has been getting James to agree to it after all.

“That is very short notice for a wedding.” Madi observes.

“Well, you can see why I had to deliver the invitation in person?” He gives her his most charming smile, and over her shoulder, he can see the face Silver’s making.

“I can’t leave straight away.” Madi says apologetically. “I have a meeting arranged to be negotiated tomorrow, but after that, I could come, and in the meantime John and Jamie could go ahead with you and I would be a few days behind.”

“That would work splendidly,” Thomas says just as Silver says “Hang on, do I get no say in this?”

“Are you saying you don’t want to go to this wedding, John? That’d you rather stay home while we go?”

“Would you really do that?” Silver murmurs, his eyes intent on her face.

“I want to see James again.” Madi’s voice is soft. “As do you, but you’re so stubborn.” She breaks off. “Excuse me for speaking so in front of you, Mr. Hamilton.”

“Thomas, please, and it’s fine. I understand the inclination.”

“Well, you would.” Silver mutters. “James is such an agreeable fellow, after all. Are you sure you want to marry him?”

“Yes.” Thomas answers Silver’s flippancy with a perfectly serious face.

Silver eyes him and nods. “I know.” He says it as much to himself as to Thomas. “But why…” He breaks off, muttering under his breath. “I’ll think about it.” He gives Thomas a faintly desperate look, and then disappears out the back door.

Jamie pushes herself up off the floor, still clutching her wooden horse and follows him out into the garden.

Madi sighs. “Give him time.”

“I don’t have time.” Thomas murmurs.

Madi looks at him, a question in her eyes.

“He’s the reason…James will agree to it.” he confesses. “James doesn’t think he’ll come and I promised I would bring him back.”

“Ah.” She nods. “Give him a day then. He will go with you. I promise.”

Thomas smiles.

“In the meantime,” She lifts the kettle. “Tea?”

* * *

Silver finally returns, the child pulling him by the hand.

“Jamie.” Madi shakes her head. “Don’t pull him.”

“Jamie.” Thomas murmurs. The name hadn’t registered the first time it was spoken, but now. He can’t help wondering. He looks at the child and then at Silver.

Silver shoots him a look. “Her idea, not mine.”

Madi laughs. “If that’s the story you want to be told here.”

Silver glares at her and she just turns to Thomas.

“You’ll stay for dinner.”

“I don’t wish to impose, but if you wish, yes. In the meantime, I still need to find lodgings for the night.”

“You’ll stay here.” Madi states firmly.

Silver gives her a look, which Madi ignores.

Thomas is starting to enjoy this.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.”

* * *

They eat dinner, which Silver cooks. He entertains them with a tale that Thomas has previously heard from an entirely different point of view, but is nevertheless entertaining this time around. Jamie sits on Silver’s lap and listens, laughing to herself and offering fruit to both her wooden horse and Silver from time to time. Only Silver accepts.

* * *

Later Thomas is stretched out on the pallet in the spare room and listening to Madi and Silver talk. It’s not intentional, but the walls are thin and there’s no way to escape it so he accepts it and listens.

“Why would I go?” Silver murmurs.

“Why are you so stubborn?” Madi says. “All you want is to see him again? I’ve known this for years. Why won’t you let go off your pride just this once?”

There’s a hesitation and then, “That’s not all I want.” Silver murmurs in response.

Thomas closes his eyes as he hears the sound of unmistakable, vigorous lovemaking. This, he supposes, is payback for something he’s done in his life, though he’s not sure what.

* * *

In the morning Silver’s gaze is slightly less antagonistic, but he still won’t quite meet Thomas’s gaze frankly, without some kind of challenge.

They drink coffee together at the kitchen table over a breakfast of sweet rolls and fruit. Madi kisses Thomas farewell and drops a kiss on the top of Jamie’s head before giving Silver a look and then she goes.

“She’s one of the trade bosses here.” Silver explains offhanded, but proudly, in answer to Thomas’s curious look. “Making sure a good portion of the trade goes safely to the island camp.”

“And you?”

Silver shrugs. “I’m here with Jamie.” He smiles at the little girl playing on the floor, then looks up again at Thomas, his eyes dark and pained. “One of the last things he said to me was that I wouldn’t be enough for her, so tell me, why would I go to this fucking wedding?”

“Because it’s the only way it will happen.” Thomas says at last. He hadn’t wanted to admit that part. He still has some pride after all. But he wants James to be happy more than anything, and having Silver there will make James happy even if he can’t admit it. He will do anything to get Silver to come if he has to.

Understanding dawns in Silver’s eyes. “He doesn’t believe I’ll come.”

“No.” Thomas admits reluctantly. That’s the simplest explanation here. It’s a lot simpler than saying “He’s never forgotten you. Every morning he walks the beach of our island, his eyes on the distant waves as though seeking something far away, and deep down I’ve always known that faraway something is you.” There will be a moment to say that. Thomas knows that. But he holds back in this moment, in case it’s not quite right. In case it has to be James who says that.

Silver nods to himself. “Well, fuck him.” He says. “You won me my wager, I’ll win you yours.”

“Really?” Thomas looks up at him, really looks at him. Lets himself see Silver as he stands there in his kitchen, biting his lip and looking as though he’s a thousand miles away. Thomas realizes then that as much as he hoped Silver would come, he never truly expected him to. It’s a revelation that makes him weak to his knees.

“For that reason, I’ll come.” Silver says.

* * *

They ship out with the evening tide. It’s not hard to find passage on a ship back to their island. Thomas books it, without much argument on Silver’s part. As far as Thomas can tell, since Thomas is the one who wants him there, Silver’s reasoning is that Thomas can pay their way.

They watch Nassau recede into the distance, settling into a thin wavy line over the waves.

“Jamie, not too far!” Silver calls after her as she scampers across the deck. “Blast and fuck.”

“I’ll fetch her.” Thomas starts after her.

“Thank you.” Silver mutters when Thomas returns with her, holding her in her arms.

Thomas is answering the many questions Jamie has about the ship as best as he can. “You wait, your uncle James will be able to answer far more questions than me when we see him.”

Silver mouths “Uncle James?” at him while Jamie just looks curious.

“Are we going to see him? Uncle James?” She tugs at Thomas’s shirt.

“Yes…your father and you, are going to be with us there for a special occasion. Your mother too.” He looks at Silver over the child’s head. “It wouldn’t be happening without your father, for which I’m grateful.”

“Daddy says he needs a lot of rum to deal with _him_.” Jamie says. “Is Uncle James, him?”

Thomas laughs. “Yes.” His lips twitch as Silver’s expression at being caught out like this. “Don’t worry, everything is all right.”

He might even need some rum himself after this endeavor.

* * *

When the ship docks the following day James is waiting on the jetty, his arms crossed his chest, glaring at Thomas as he disembarks.

Thomas can’t help wondering if he’s been there every time a ship has landed the last few days, waiting for his return.

“You think you can just…” he pauses, catching sight of the man behind Thomas’s head… “Silver?” The way he says the name causes Thomas’s heart to soften. It’s clear that James never expected to see Silver again. There’s surprise and wonder and shock all rolled together in that one single word.

“Hello, James.” Silver says lightly. “Happy nuptials.”

James’s face tightens as he surveys him and then looks at Thomas.

“You said-“ Thomas starts and falters.

“I didn’t think you’d actually go and fucking do it.” James hisses.

“I’ll thank you not to swear in front of my daughter.” Silver says primly.

“The fuck are you talking about?” Flint (and he is wholly Flint in that instance) glares at him.

“Hello.”

He stares down at the small child in front of him, incredulously. “Who are you?”

“Jamie Silver.” She says. “Who are you?”

“James McGraw.” James say, raising an eyebrow at Silver who flatly ignores it. 

The child puts out her small hand and James takes it. They shake hands solemnly.

“Silver?” He asks Silver.

“I wanted her to have a proper name.” Is all Silver says as he scoops Jamie up in his arms and balances her on his other shoulder.

“Shall we?” Thomas says.

“I don’t think…” James says. “I’ve got the horses…” He looks at Thomas helplessly.

“I can still ride a horse.” Silver says tersely.

“Then would you prefer to ride behind Thomas or myself?” James retorts back just as curtly.

“Thomas.” Silver smiles at him. “If you can handle carrying a child.”

“Oh, I’m not sure…” James falters at that.

“Madi would trust you.” Silver says sweetly. He lifts Jamie into the saddle in front of James and smiles at her. "There you go, sweetheart."

They ride.

* * *

James pushes his horse ahead so he won’t have to watch Silver press against Thomas, but then he’s unsure of what to do once he’s alone with the child so he slows his pace to a light trot. He can’t get over the way Silver just lifted her into the saddle beside him. No looks, no touches, nothing. As though there’s never been anything between them. Has there been anything between them? Or has he simply imagined it?

“Can we go fast again?” Jamie twists to look up at him hopefully.

“All right.” James presses his knees in and they fly.

“You’re Uncle James.” Jamie twists to look up at him questioningly, as though she’s not quite certain of this.

“I suppose I am.” James says after a moment. He thinks about this for a moment, the fact that Silver or Madi, not only told this child about him, but in a familiar manner that required the title of uncle. He can’t begin to fathom that. He can't even begin to fathom the reason behind her being named after him.

“Mama misses you.” Jamie confides in him. “She’s told me stories.”

“I miss her too.” James murmurs. And then because he can’t resist this unfiltered look at Silver’s and Madi’s life he asks. “What of your father? What does he say about me?”

“He says ‘fuck him’ a lot when Mama talks about you.” Jamie informs him, the words rattling off her tongue so casually James knows they’re a direct quote.

“Not especially surprising.” James reflects. In retrospect he’s surprised Silver’s spoken of him at all.

Jamie looks at him. “Do you miss him too? Like Mama?”

James hesitates and then, softly enough it would be easy to miss, “Yes.”

He digs his heels in and keeps riding.

* * *

Once they’re at the house Thomas makes dinner. There's little conversation. Silver seems weary and Jamie half asleep. Thomas shows him where they can make up a bed in the spare room and Silver settles her down for sleep.

After the meal James gravitates towards the beach out of habit. Silver follows him after a moment.

Thomas lets them, half keeping an eye on Jamie as she sleeps, while he watches the two figures on the sand. Sooner or later he knows the two of them will have to speak privately. Will this be that conversation, he wonders? Or will it take longer?

* * *

James hears Silver’s crutch behind him. Finally he turns and faces him head-on. Silver’s face has aged over the last few years but lightly and James’s heart aches that he was not there to see that first line of gray in his hair, or the laughter wrinkles by his eyes grow more pronounced. How is it fair that he hasn’t gotten to see Silver laugh more?

Silver’s merely standing there, looking at him. Waiting for James to be the one to speak first.

At last James does. “Why are you here?”

“I’m here for Thomas.” Silver says lightly. “Imagine my surprise when he tells me it’s the only way you’ll marry him. If I am there.” His eyes glint in the fading evening sunlight. “You could hardly expect me to deny him his heart’s desire. After all, I’ve already granted you yours.”

James punches him. It’s satisfying and it’s not in the same breath. He’s waited years to do it, after all, and yet, at the very instant his hand connects with Silver’s jaw, he wishes the touch was other than violent. This is not how he wants to touch Silver, not entirely.

Silver staggers, but manages to hold on to his crutch. And then he discards it to the sand, lunging at James and catching him around his middle. They roll across the sand into the sea, grappling and struggling together under they’re both under the waves and come up gasping, James straddling Silver, holding him down.

James spits out a mouthful of salt water. There’s still anger there, but the water has drowned most of it. “Enough?”

Silver splutters and looks up at him. “That will have to do, I suppose.”

“Do?” James repeats, blowing water out of his nose and glaring down at him. He hates that even now, looking down at Silver, all he can see is his eyes, glinting and bright, and his mouth, twisted into a warm curve of a smirk. God, he hates Silver’s mouth so very much.

“Well, I suppose he’d object if we fucked.” Silver gazes up at him. “It is your wedding visit after all.” he points out mischievously.

James sits back, aware that he’s sitting on Silver, aware of the water rising over him, over them both. He’s aware of so much here, and he still doesn’t want to move. He doesn’t want to move from where he is. He doesn’t want to stop touching Silver, even if he can’t bring himself to voice that desire aloud.

“Is that why you came?” He asks harshly.

“I came because it’s been almost four years.” Silver gazes up at him, ignoring the part where he’s half lying under the ocean, half submerged by James’s body. “I came because…I suppose… I missed you.”

James stares down at him. “What am I supposed to say to that?”

“You could say you missed me too.” Silver suggests. “Alternatively, thank you.”

James rolls off him. He gets to his feet and holds out a hand to pull Silver to his feet.

“Thank you.”

Silver laughs, throwing his head back. The sun sinking down over the ocean catches the seawater on his curls and casts a rainbow across his cheek. James has to keep his hand down by his waist to keep from stroking his thumb across it.

“What?” He asks gruffly.

“I didn’t think you’d actually say it.”

“It would be very easy to push you back in the ocean.” James points out as they walk along the beach together.

* * *

They return to the house, Thomas eyeing him from the porch where he’s reading to Jamie since she's woken from her nap.

“All sorted?” He glances at Silver’s face, the bruise blossoming across his cheek, the split lip. They tell a story that Thomas still wants to know the details of.

James merely smiles at him and leans in to kiss him.

Silver stands back, against the porch, watching silently. His hands are clenched by his sides and Thomas knows that whatever happened out there on the beach, it hasn’t settled everything.

Jamie looks up at him. “Dada, you’re bleeding.”

“Am I?” Silver wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. “That would be because your Uncle James punched me.”

“James. Silver.” Thomas isn’t sure who to scold first for speaking like this in front of the child.

Silver holds out his arms and Jamie jumps off Thomas’s lap and over to him. He hoists her up, settling her easily on his damp hip.

“Uncle James punched me because we had a very old argument and cared a lot about it. It doesn’t mean we’re still angry, or things aren’t all right now.” He smiles at Jamie. “And it doesn’t mean you can punch your friends whenever you feel inclined.”

“Is Uncle James still your friend?”

Silver glances at James over her head, at Thomas, at the both of them. “Yes.” He says, lowering Jamie to the ground. “He’s still my friend.” He looks at James as though expecting a rebuttal but James remains silent.

“Good.” Jamie skips back over to Thomas. “Uncle Thomas, you can finish the story now then.”

“Of course.” Thomas smiles at her as she clambers back onto his lap. “They need to get cleaned up anyway.” He gives them both a look.

“Do you sense some judgement in that?” Silver whispers as they go down the hall.

“Shut up.”

* * *

Later that night, after they’ve gotten Silver and Jamie settled in the spare room, Thomas closes the door to their bedroom. They’re alone now and he’s waited all day for this.

James turns to look at him as he steps out of his breeches. “What?”

Thomas pushes James down on the bed, straddling him heavily. He keeps his thighs firmly on either side of James, wanting to hold him here, to hold him accountable.

“Was that necessary?”

“You’re the one who brought him here.” James says.

Thomas retorts. “Don’t hold me responsible for that. All I wanted to do was marry the man I love.” He breaks off and just exhales, sitting back on his knees.

“I’m sorry.” James says at last. “I should have handled that differently. I... I love you, Thomas. Please don’t doubt that.”

“I don’t doubt that.” Thomas says. “I simply don’t understand why you’re reluctant to do this.” He waits. For some reason he’d thought it would be all fixed if he could bring Silver back with him. That his arrival would make James see just how much this matters to him.

James sighs, rubbing his hand over his face and then staring upwards at the roof. “It feels like betraying Miranda. I know it shouldn’t, but foolishly it still does. To take vows and to take her place beside you…” He shakes his head, closing his eyes.

“It’s all that, and nothing to do with Silver?” Thomas says after a moment. He hates to ask that, and yet he has to. It’s there waiting to be asked, even if he had hoped that James would speak of it of his own volition.

“Silver’s married to Madi.”

“And I want you to be married to me.” Thomas sits up a little, taking James’s hand in his. “Do you understand?”

“I do.” James says, squeezing Thomas’s hand in his. “What can I do to make it up to you?”

Thomas presses him down and straddles him more firmly. “We’re going to fuck. Loudly. Now.”

“What?” James stares at him as Thomas reaches for his shirt, drawing up to bare his chest.

“It’s only fair considering what they did in Nassau.” Thomas drags his thumbnail over James’s left nipple, watching it respond.

“Oh?” James inquires, half propping himself on his elbows. “Were they loud?”

“Your friend, Mr. Silver.” Thomas presses down against James, still teasing his nipple. “Is marvelously loud when he chooses to be, and extremely taciturn when he desires.”

“Taciturn, him?” James snorts. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same man?”

“For the most part, yes.” Thomas regards him. “But I think we both know a different version of him, don’t we?” He gives James’s nipple a little tweak and grins.

“Very likely.” James agrees. He reaches up to kiss Thomas’s neck. “Enough talk about Silver.” He pushes Thomas back and tugs at his shirt, pulling it up over his shoulders and tossing it aside.

“I thought you enjoyed talking about Silver.” Thomas starts to discard his own clothing as well.

“Whatever gave you that impression?”

“Well…the way you do it.” Thomas leaves his clothing on the floor and settles on the bed once more.

“I don’t want to talk about Silver when I’m in bed with you.” James clarifies. He rolls them over and proves his point by taking Thomas in his mouth.

Thomas arches his back with a sigh as James lifts his legs up over his shoulders.

This isn’t what he had had in mind, he wanted James to make the noise, wanted Silver to know why he was, because Thomas was fucking him, but this is still good. He threads his fingers through James’s hair and then he gets an idea.

“James, hold on.”

James raises his head from between Thomas’s golden thighs. “I’m in the middle of something.”

“Just wait.” Thomas nudges him onto his side and then promptly switches the other way around so that he has access to James’s cock while his cock is front of James’s mouth.

“Thomas,” James murmurs and then simply takes his cock into his mouth again.

Thomas groans around his cock as he thrusts into James’s mouth. James groans back, hips pumping lightly, but restrained. It takes so much work not thrust all the way into his mouth. Thomas loves how good he is at holding himself back. He presses more firmly against James so he knows he can.

He grips James’s backside, caressing the firm round cheeks that he adores. Not a part of James is unloved, but his backside is frankly magnificent, if Thomas says so, himself.

He strokes his finger between his cheeks, rubbing over James’s hole. James groans then, then pulling off to rasp, “Fuck, Thomas, please.”

Thomas takes that as encouragement to push the tip of his forefinger just inside. James groans louder and then he takes Thomas back down inside his throat. His own hands caress Thomas’s lower back and ass.

Thomas forgets about making Silver jealous. It doesn’t truly matter, but this, the connection between their bodies, James and him, him and James, one and together. His entire being wanting to be consumed by James as he lets himself spill into James with a cry of pure delight. This is what matters.

James groans again and comes, deep down his throat. He holds on to him until Thomas has softened completely, and only then does he roll off and draw a deep, sated breath.

“Fuck, if having Silver around causes that, can we keep him?”

“That’s terribly funny.” Thomas murmurs. He doesn’t mind the extra vigor and enthusiasm Silver has lent to the last few days but he doesn’t want the faint uncertainty in the air. He wants things to be settled. He wonders, as James curls into the embrace of his shoulder, if he can have that and let James have Silver as well.

* * *

For once James rises first and goes out to sit on the beach. To his intense annoyance Silver’s also already awake and had the same idea. He looks up at Flint with a mutual expression of irritation. The bruise purpling along his cheek looks painful, his split lip, only slightly starting to heal.

James sinks down on the sand beside him. For a moment there’s only silence as they watch the waves.

James thinks about last night, and what Thomas said about Nassau. For the first time he thinks of Silver actually listening to them in bed. A dark flush starts along his neck and he stares steadily out at the water, not wanting to acknowledge it, or the way he can feel Silver looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

“Why did you truly come?” James asks at last. He scoops up a handful of sand, letting it run through his fingers.

“He said it was the only way you'd marry him.” Silver keeps his eyes on the sun rising slowly over the glistening water.

James waits, watching the sand slide across his palm. How was that enough? Why on earth would Silver care if Thomas got him to marry him or not?

“And you thought I wouldn't come.” Silver adds softly. “You know I can't resist proving you wrong.” He smiles and it's so familiar it makes James's heart ache. He hasn't expected this, to see Silver again, to admit how much he's missed him.

And he has missed him. That part is something he can’t deny, no matter how much he wants to. No matter how much he wants to pretend that everything is strictly in the past and he’s never spent a single solitary night lying awake and thinking of Silver.

“Jamie.” He says after a moment. “How old?”

“Four years.” Silver bites his lip. “Madi was pregnant when…” he sighs. “That first year.” He trails off, keeping his eyes on the sea. “I thought we wouldn’t settle together, but when she finally told me she was going to have a baby, I told her I’d do whatever she wanted and she let me stay.” He gives a little shrug of his shoulders. “So here we are.”

He looks sideways at James. “Why don't you want to get married?”

“Because it feels like I'm trying to take something away from Miranda, even if only in memory.” James says slowly. “Something that was hers and Thomas's alone and precious in that.”

Silver considers this. “Or you could look at it as honoring her memory.”

James turns and squints at him. “How?”

“Because they chose each other to be their closest companion in life and now he's choosing you, to be that, to make this promise to him.” Silver clasps his hands around his good knee. “You don't need to, you know. You and Thomas are already bound by the most powerful bond I've ever seen. Nothing is going to change that. But it would make Thomas happy.”

James looks at him. “How do you know?”

“Because he loved you enough to bring me here.” Silver says simply. He looks out across the waves.

James sighs softly. “You're right,” he says finally.

Silver looks at him then. “Excuse me.”

“You're right.” Flint says gruffly.

“I'm sorry, could you just say that one more time.”

“I could dunk you into the ocean again, you know.” James says easily.

“You wouldn't dare. I'm practically an old man now, I'm a father.”

It would be so easy to push him across the sand towards the waves. Somehow, James resists the urge.

* * *

He finds Thomas in the garden with Jamie. James stops and watches him playing with her.

“Further.” Thomas calls, letting Jamie run ahead to discover whatever it is he's hidden for her so she can find it. 

James takes the opportunity to stand beside him, slipping an arm around Thomas's waist.

“Good conversation?” Thomas inquires.

“Yes.” James says. He kisses the side of Thomas's neck, “I said I'd marry you in jest if you brought him here, but now he's here, I say this in all sincerity, I will marry you. I love you and I want to be yours, as I already am, but if this will bind us closer then I will marry you.”

Thomas turns to wrap his arms around him. “What caused you to change your mind?”

“Something Silver said.” James says quietly.

Thomas's mouth twitches. “I know you were joking about keeping him but he does have his uses.”

* * *

Madi arrives the following day. James is waiting on the jetty for her. He sweeps her up in his arms as soon as she steps off the skiff, clasping his arms around her tight.

“Madi,” he murmurs into her hair, unable to stop the faint trembling in his limbs as he sets her down again. He’d never truly thought he would see her again either.

“You're alive,” she whispers, “I always wanted to believe him, but I'm not sure I truly did until Thomas arrived.”

He smooths his hands over her hair and kisses her forehead, before finally stepping back to look at her face. She touches his cheek softly. For a moment they just stand there, smiling at each other before James finally clears his throat and steps back.

“Come on, we should be heading back.”

They walk over to where the horses are.

James pauses. “Before we ride back to the farm.” He hesitates, “Are you happy? Are you well?” He wants to know about her life with Silver without being intrusive. He needs to know that things are alright between them.

“Well enough,” Madi says. “Happy, most days. The first year was hard. I didn't know I was expecting Jamie for so long...I wasn’t expecting to have a child then, but Jamie.” She smiles. “John's so sweet with her. A child doesn't solve what had been wounded, but it will soothe. He's good with her. When it comes to Jamie, I know that we will always be good. Apart from that… I'm busy with the trade business. He could find something to busy his days, but I think he fears I don't understand his needs, that I’ll think he’s trying to leave if he does anything else.”

“You could talk to him.” James says gruffly, reaching for the reins.

She rolls his eyes. “You know what's that like.”

James chuckles, even though he shouldn’t. Yes, he knows all too well what that’s like.

* * *

They ride back to the house and James would be lying if he said he didn’t watch to see the way Madi and Silver greet each other. Madi hugs Jamie first, but that’s mostly due to the child running up to her and flinging herself into her arms. Madi hugs her daughter, kisses her hair and sets her down again.

By that time Silver’s made his way down the porch steps and over to the horse. He gives her that half smile that James knows the look of all too well, and then one hand slides down her back as he leans in to kiss her.

And James looks away, half out of habit and half because he still feels that clutch of longing that he felt the first time he saw them kiss. It still hasn’t faded and he has no right to it; he’s not sure he ever did.

He looks up to see Thomas watching him from the porch.

James takes the reins and leads the horses back to the stable. He takes his time unsaddling them and rubbing them down. He needs time to arrange his thoughts. There are too many people in the room waiting for him who know what he’s prone to think. Too many people right now who seem to have an investment in what he thinks.

It was simpler before he let anyone know his thoughts or feelings at all. Simpler, he knows, but lonely. Still, he wishes for the simplicity of those earlier days, just for today.

* * *

That evening meal is a simple affair. Thomas prepares it, though he’s only partially surprised when Silver follows him to the kitchen.

“Anything I can do to help?” Silver leans against the table, watching him clean the fish that James caught earlier.

“Yes.” Thomas says after a moment. “You can cut up these herbs if you like.” He offers Silver the knife and Silver takes it without hesitation.

They work side by side in companionable silence though Thomas can feel Silver’s gaze on him from time to time.

* * *

After dinner James shows Madi around the small farm. Silver declines the invitation and instead goes about preparations for putting Jamie to bed.

After finishing the dishes, Thomas goes out to the garden and spots Silver sitting there. He pauses momentarily, not wanting to intrude, and then decides, they might as well talk. When will they get this opportunity again?

Silver looks up at him in his approach and nods in acknowledgement.

“They’ll be like this for hours.” He mutters, nodding at the two figures walking along beyond the furthest field.

“They have a lot to speak of.” Thomas observes.

Silver glances at him and then away again. He taps out a restless tattoo on his fingers.

“Why don’t you join them?” Thomas suggests.

“They won’t want me.” Silver murmurs, his eyes on the grass. There’s nothing bitter about his words. Merely a statement. Silver catches Thomas’s look and shrugs. “Like you said, they have a lot to speak of.”

“You and James do too, I’m sure.” Thomas responds. He knows that much to be sure. He knows that the times they’ve spoken so far haven’t been enough to cover all that distance between t hem.

Silver’s half smile is hidden by his curls falling over his face. “I’m not sure James wants to speak of it.” The words are very soft in the evening air. He keeps his gaze on the twilight spreading across the garden. “I’m not sure I have the right to ask him to.”

“Why don’t you ask him and see?” Thomas considers for a moment. He could leave Silver to his melancholy or he could indulge in it. “Wait here.”

He rises and goes inside the cottage to fetch a bottle of wine.

Silver raises an eyebrow when he returns with it.

Thomas pours a generous cup for each of them and holds it out. “If they’re going to talk all night, we might as well drink.” He points out.

“Fair enough.” Silver agrees. “What should we drink to?”

“To reunions, of course.” Thomas raises his wine, waiting for him do the same.

Silver gazes at him for a long moment and then follows suit. “To reunions.”

They drink.

Two bottles later and Thomas is quite enjoying himself. Silver in his cups is not quite like he could have imagined but full of delightful surprises nonetheless. He’s surprisingly easy to talk to, and the conversation shift inevitably to the point where Thomas knew it would.

“If you hadn’t wanted this…” Silver gestures lazily to the cottage, to everything in general. “Marriage.” He clarifies at Thomas’s questioning look. “How long do you think it would have taken?”

 _How long would it have taken to bring me here_. That’s the unspoken part of his statement.

“I’m not sure.” Thomas says. “You could have come here.”

“I didn’t know you were here.” Silver says after a moment. “I could have looked, but it needed to be him, or you.” His eyes flicker to Thomas and away again, dancing back and forth, not speaking of the silence of the years there.

“I needed it to be him.” Silver whispers.

* * *

James still walks the bluffs alone after Madi heads back eventually. He can’t believe Silver came here, let alone that Thomas went to fetch him. Or rather, he can believe Thomas went, that he can believe easily enough, but he can’t believe Silver came.

He closes his eyes. Four years. Four years and not a day gone by that he hasn’t thought of Silver.

He considers what Madi had said.

She had allayed his suspicions that she was indeed making her own way as one of the trade bosses and still managing to send supplies to the island. After Woodes Rogers’s recent dismissal and the arrival of the new governor, it had not been difficult to simply let the maroon camp disappear from the public records.

“We have a ship.” Madi tells him, his eyes bright with pride. “It sails under the oath and carries supplies back. It’s captained by Sebastian, one of my men that I trust more than some.”

James had listened to all of this with something akin to rapture. But he couldn’t help noticing how they had both danced around the subject of Silver, in spite of themselves.

Finally neither of them could avoid it any longer.

He waits, and then. “So…”

“Go on.” Madi pauses, looking out over the sea. “Ask me then.” There’s resignation in her voice.

“Are you happy?” James asks again. “With him?”

He wants her to say yes, wants to know that this life is somehow enough and yet he knows it isn’t what she had planned. It’s not what either of them have planned. He wants to know if she’s made peace with that or if there’s still lingering resentment from time to time, as there is in him.

Madi’s shoulders lift faintly. “What is happiness? I envisioned…a different future for myself four years ago. I wanted to fight that war and part of me still does. But at the same time when I look at Nassau and the steps we make every day, when I look at our daughter and think of her growing up, knowing how to navigate both worlds , the strength she will have to possess…I wonder at times what my mother would have done in my place and her mother before her.”

She looks up at the sky. “I still wonder sometimes what it would have been like….” Her gaze cloud momentarily and then clears. “But you were safe, you were alive and you were with Thomas. And I couldn’t take you away from that.”

“You said you didn’t know for certain.” James presses.

“I didn’t at first. I sent one of my own men after you and he returned saying that the plantation owner had informed him that James Flint and Thomas Hamilton had departed from the Oglethorpe plantation shortly after the day Flint had arrived there. And that after that their whereabouts were unknown. He had pressed them, for he did not trust them, but in the end he was satisfied that the information was indeed kept out of safety’s sake and not that something evil had befallen them, so I left it there, satisfied that at least one of you would return sooner or later.”

“Ah yes. That bet.” James murmurs.

Madi’s mouth twitches. “Yes.” She glances at him. “It is not what it could have been, I admit that freely. But I do not regret Jamie, and I don’t regret him staying. So yes, I am happy.”

There’s a slight lump in James’s throat at her words. “I’m glad.” He is. There is a sweet relief in hearing that from Madi after so long.

“And you…I do not need to ask whether you are happy with Thomas.” The relief of joy shines in Madi’s eyes. “I can see you are.”

“Yes.” James murmurs. “That’s true.”

Madi watches his hands, restless as he gazes over the sea. “But you miss him.”

James forces his hands to still. “Yes.” He admits. “He had become such a part of me and then to have that cut off, so abruptly. It was like losing a limb, or more honestly, half my mind.” He swallows. “The first year was the easiest in a way. I was so angry. And being reunited with Thomas was so new, every day I woke in a dream, thought it to be a dream and expected to wake, and every day the dream lasted into the night and Thomas was there at the end of it.” He licks his lips, studying his fingers.

“What happened at the end of the year?” Madi asks.

“I heard a tale of him.” James’s mouth curves into a smile at the memory. “A tale of Long John Silver from a passing stranger in the tavern. It took me a moment to recognize the tale and then when I did, I started to laugh and had to leave, for it was not quite the way I remembered it, but the hearing of it, the memory of it, struck me like that. It had made me smile, instead of making me angry and I realized in that moment that I was no longer angry at him.”

He purses his lips and sat gazing at the endless sea. “I simply wasn’t. Not anymore. But relinquishing that anger was harder than I thought. There was a part of me that thought I should still be angry at him, that I had truly forgiven him…it didn’t mean I could tell him that.”

“And Thomas?”

“He’s always thought I should write to Silver, but I couldn’t bring myself to.” He sighs.

“And now?” Madi asks quietly, her eyes still as they watch the waves.

“Now?”

“Now on the eve of the eve," She smiles faintly, "of your wedding, are you going to tell my husband how you feel for him?”

James sucks in a breath at her simply stated words. “Are you sure you want me to?”

“It’s not a matter of my wanting or not.” Madi says softly. “I think it would be best if the two of you acknowledged this thing between you instead of burying it for another four years.”

James reaches over and holds her hand. “As long as you promise me that we’ll stay in contact, no matter what happens. I will not lose you again.”

“Never.” Madi assures him. “Jamie needs to know her uncles, and she needs to know other…” She sighs. “She goes home to the island and is among my people. And she knows Nassau but she needs more of the world. She should learn more of it. She should know how many ways there are to make a happy home.” She pauses. “And if anything were ever to happen…”

“She could come here of course.” James assures her immediately. “But I pray that day will never come. Unless you and Silver are with her.”

Madi smiles. That was all she had hoped he would say.

* * *

Now as James turns and heads back to the cottage, there’s trepidation in his steps. Can he truly tell Silver the understanding that has woken in his breast over the years? Can those words truly cross his lips?

Yet when James reaches the porch, he sees that there will be no further conversation tonight. The lamps are still burning low but Silver is firmly asleep on the settle on the porch, a blanket draped lightly over him. There are several empty wine bottles on the floor beside him.

James gazes at him a moment and then sighs, and goes inside.

There’s still a candle burning in their bedroom but Thomas is already curled up in bed. He blinks sleepily at James as he comes in.

“I see you two had a merry time of it.” James starts undressing.

“Mmm.” Thomas murmurs contentedly. “It was nice.”

He rolls aside to make room for James as he lies down beside him, settling his arms around James’s chest, and instantly falling asleep.

James lies there a moment, and then leans over and blows out the candle. Perhaps it’s for the best in the end.

* * *

Besides what would he have said to Silver in the end? That’s the question that distracts James all the next day as they make preparations. Jamie helps him hang up garlands and flowered wreaths in the garden and her childish chatter is almost enough to keep him busy, yet all the same the question haunts him.

There had been a time that Silver’s mind had been as open and clear to him as the sky. Now he’s not so sure. If Silver’s thoughts mirror his own now, he doesn’t know what to think.

Silver’s here. He’s given James advice and helped him agree to this wedding. So why does he look at James like he’s keeping him from something? Like there’s still something waiting…

James spends the last day before the wedding trying to ascertain what it is that Silver thinks he should be saying, but at last, he gives up. That link between their minds is gone and now that Flint’s aware of its absence, with Silver so close, he misses it more than he could say.

* * *

At the end of the day after everything’s been prepared and Madi’s gone to put Jamie to bed. Thomas withdraws to the kitchen under the excuse of checking on something for tomorrow.

Silver’s eyes follow him and finally James has had enough. He jerks his head towards Silver, drawing him out around the back of the cottage, into the twilight fading over the garden.

There’s a wariness to the set of Silver’s shoulders that James can’t ignore.

“We need to talk.” He starts, and instantly knows it was the wrong thing to say. That this is not the right time for a confession of any sorts, but still he presses it, assuming this is their last chance.

“These last four years, why didn’t you come before? Truly.” He needs to know.

Silver blinks. And then his teeth catch at his lip. If he didn’t do it so infrequently, James would swear he did it on purpose. It’s the smallest gesture, but it drives him wild.

“I was stubborn.” Silver says at last. “I wanted you to come find me and I wanted you to find me happy. I wanted you to be wrong.” His eyes challenge James.

“And are you happy?” James answers that challenge.

“For the most part, yes.” Silver faces him. “Madi may be the trade boss and run a good portion of that island, but she’s in my bed every night, for the most part, and she’s alive. So are you. So yes, I still think I made the right decision.”

He steadies himself, like he’s aware of the weight of the words he’s about to speak, and then he says them, proud yet indifferent of their outcome. “You’re welcome by the way.”

James punches him. His fist swings almost automatically, without intention, with every intention. It catches Silver straight on the jaw, knocking him backward.

Silver’s boot snags in the grass, and he tries to catches his balances, but to avail. He falls backward, landing on the ground with a thud. He winces.

“Are you happy now?” Silver growls, touching his jaw gingerly.

James gazes down at him. “Happy?” He growls back. He’s not sure what Silver means. “You could have done any number of things instead of what you did. You could have told me you had sent someone looking for Thomas. You could have trusted me.”

“I did trust you.” Silver snarls. He wipes the blood from his mouth with a furious hand. “It wasn’t you I was afraid of. If you could only understand…”

James stares at him quizzically. “What do you mean…it wasn’t me you were afraid of?”

Silver shakes his head tiredly. He lies there in the grass, staring up at the sky. “It was….it wasn’t…I couldn’t just… It was the fear.” He licks his newly split lip again, cutting off all those unfinished sentences that make James want to strangle him. “I was fully behind you and Madi at first, truly. I believed you…I believed in that war. But after nearly losing her, thinking I had lost her, and then having her returned to me. I couldn’t take that risk…” There’s a note of desperation even now in his voice that makes Flint flinch, as though even now Silver was afraid that he would turn back the past and change it, and plunge them back into that danger he had feared so badly.

He shoves himself upright, bracing himself with the crutch and Flint has to restrain himself from reaching out to steady him.

“I thought I had lost her. Afterwards, I still thought that. I thought when she had Jamie, she would turn her back forever. She didn’t tell me at first, not until it was closer to her time, and she gave me the choice of being there, or going…so I stayed and I saw Jamie born, and I tended to her, and then Madi had her position in Nassau and we made the decision to take a house there.” he licks his lips again. “I am putting this all simply, it was not so simple.”

“I know.” Flint murmurs. Madi would have wanted reassurances at every step of the way and he could not blame her for that; he understood that, but watching Silver now, he understood him too well, for having Thomas again within his grasp he understood.

“Madi tells me I should do something…” Silver shifts, his fingers playing over the top of the crutch aimlessly. “But if I went away from them…I would miss Jamie too now. If I left them even for a voyage, how would not that not be another betrayal of my word? How would she ever be able to trust me if I went back on that?”

_I will stand with you an hour, a day, a year, until it is resolved._

Flint will never forget those words. He resented their ringing echo for a time, for the way they haunted him and then he came to recognize them for what they were an anguished plea, to survive, to stay alive, a desperate voice crying out in fear, the love contained in them.

“It’s difficult to leave.” He says at last, when it was clear that Silver intended to speak no more. ”I doesn’t mean it’s final, nor a farewell.”

“You can’t know that.” Silver whispers, his hair falling over his face. “If I did leave and returned only to find the door shut against me…” His hand grips the handle of the crutch so fiercely Flint worries it will snap. “I don’t know how I would go on.” The words are a hollow whisper.

“Maybe she’s waiting to see if you will return.” Flint counters.

Silver’s snaps back up, staring at him. “Of course I would return.”

“How can she know that if you don’t go?” Flint asks reasonably.

Silver glowers at him through tangled curls, then turns away, his teeth sinking into his lower lip as he looks at the darkening fields. The bruise on his cheek where Flint had punched him before, and now again glows like an ember. Flint itches to brush his fingertips over it, reassuring himself that he’ still there.

“I don’t know if I can take that risk.” Silver murmurs.

Flint can’t help himself then, his hand moves forward of its own accord, reaching out to touch his cheek with tender fingertips.

Silver remains completely still.

“Why not give her the chance and see?” Flint murmurs. “Her faith in you might surprise you.”

Silver looks up at him, his eyes bright and Flint cups his jaw, his fingers stroking Silver’s skin, just touching him, simply appreciating the fact that Silver is there to touch and letting him touch.

Silver utters a soft shudder; a helpless sound. “If you’re wrong…”

“You can of course hold me accountable.” Flint murmurs.

Silver looks up at him his curls falling over his eyes and then his eyes look bright and helpless.

Flint licks his lips. “Silver.”

“We should go in.” Silver says abruptly, gripping his crutch and turning to head for the cottage. “It’s your wedding tomorrow after all.”

“Yes.” James says, a trifle unsteady. “It is… He pauses. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Silver nods, simply with one last look at him and goes in.

* * *

Madi’s lying in the warm candlelight waiting for him, a book in her hands and Silver crawls into her arms and buries his face in her skin, making a murmur of exhaustion. His skin trembles and he wants to lie here in the warmth of this bed until it stops. No, he wants to be on a ship back to Nassau far away from the man he knew as Flint and the man he sees as James and the impossibility of them both.

“Dada?” comes a small inquisitive voice from the made-up bed in the corner.

“Jamie’s still waiting for you to tell her a story.” Madi strokes his hair, the affection apparent in the gesture. “I told her one, but it wasn’t enough.”

Silver nods. “I’ll go to her.” he pushes himself up and Madi leans up, catching his face in her hands, drawing him in for a kiss.

He looks at her in surprise. “What was that for?”

“I’m glad we’re here.” she says simply.

All he can do is nod and then go over to where Jamie waits. He settles down beside her and starts to tell her a story about a small but brave rat who sailed the seven seas. All the while thinking of Madi’s words, of the look in James’s eyes.

* * *

They had found a cleric that would perform the ceremony. It had mattered to Thomas; it didn’t matter to James. Now that he had agreed to this, he didn’t care who said the words. But since it matters to Thomas, James is relieved that Pastor Ames saw no reason not to marry two men in spite of what the church back in England would say.

There are no other guests beyond Madi, Jamie and Silver. While they do have friends in the town, friends who know the true nature of their relationship no less, it’s still a personal ceremony and it was still a matter of their safety. It might have been four years since Captain Flint vanished from the world, but James wouldn’t risk it.

The wedding takes place on a bright clear day where the sky dazzles against the sea, and the clouds are high, drifting across the expanse of the sky. It’s a small, intimate ceremony. James stands there in the sunlight, aware of two things. That he loves Thomas beyond anything else, and that once again Silver has been the instrument towards his reaching Thomas. Oh, he might have come to understand why this mattered to Thomas in time, but what if he hadn’t? What if it had soured this love between them because he hadn’t been able to see it clearly?

Thomas says his vows and smiles at him like this is the beginning all over again, and maybe it is.

James kisses him there, with the wind rippling at his back and Thomas’s arms around him, and it feels like a new dawn. For the first time he truly understands why someone would want to do this.

With Thomas, he understands.

* * *

Afterwards, when Pastor Ames has given them his best wishes and taken a piece of cake home in his pocket they’re sitting around drinking wine (the four of them) and fruit juice (Jamie) and reminiscing Silver slowly pushes himself to his feet.

James eyes him slightly and murmurs to Thomas. “What is he doing?”

“I do believe he’s going to give a speech.” Thomas is smiling slightly.

James eyes him now. “Did you know about this?”

“Shh.” Thomas says. “Don’t be rude.”

* * *

(He did know. Silver had come up to him earlier in the day. “Would you have any objection if I gave a speech afterward?” His fingers drum restlessly on his crutch handle. “I understand it’s the done thing at formal weddings, and I know this is less formal but,”

Thomas lays his hand over Silver’s. “Of course you may give a speech.” He squeezes Silver’s hand and Silver looks at it.

“Thank you.” He murmurs and abruptly places his other hand over Thomas’s. “Thank you too…for bringing me here, for allowing me to see him again.”

There’s a maelstrom of melancholy gratitude in those blue eyes that makes Thomas’s collar a little tighter. There are so many things he’d like to say to Silver and he doesn’t know how to say them.

“You are more than welcome.” He says softly. “It was my pleasure.”

They stand there a moment longer and then eventually Silver draws his hands away.

“This speech, is it going to make him blush?” Thomas inquires.

* * *

Now Silver stands in front of them, clearing his throat. Jamie has wandered a little ways away to play on the grass with the pebbles she started collecting during the wedding. It’s just the four of them sitting together.

“I would like to say a few words.” Silver looks around, and if his gaze lingers slightly longer on James, well Thomas doesn’t blame him.

“I could say a lot of things.”

James snorts in spite of himself.

“But I won’t.” Silver continues. “Mostly I wish to say how fortunately it is to witness a union like this.” his voice has grown serious in the warm afternoon light, the first hints of twilight stealing over the sand. “Thomas and James were separated once, and now they need never be separated again.” He raises his glass. “To Thomas and James together.”

They raise their glasses, drinking.

Silver sinks back to his seat, pouring himself another. James stares at his glass. There’s so much he wants to say.

“I too would like to say something.” Thomas rises. “I would like to say thank you.” He looks at Silver. “To John, for James. For bringing us together, so that we could have this moment today.”

Silver stared down at his glass. He doesn’t say anything and the moment is too full for anyone to speak.

“Well.” Madi murmurs.

“Indeed.” James clears his throat. He reaches for the wine and pours them all more, reaching the end of the bottle. “I’ll fetch some more. “ As he goes inside to get another bottle, he pauses. Abruptly, painfully, he’s aware that tomorrow Silver and Madi and Jamie will be returning to Nassau. This truly is the last chance he has. He can’t waste it.

He sinks into his chair and looks across the table at Silver, only Silver’s not there.

“He went down by the shore.” Madi says softly.

James looks at her and then at Thomas, questioningly.

Thomas’s hand clasps his shoulder. “Go.”

“Are you sure?”

“Do you have to ask?” Thomas kisses him.

* * *

So James walks across the grass and down where it shifts to sand, down to the wavy shoreline to sit down beside Silver on the sunlit sand.

For a few moments they sit together in silence. James can feel his heart twisting uncomfortably in his chest. He wants to do this right this time. He doesn’t want to regret letting this moment pass.

“I know you can’t forgive me.” Silver says without looking at him “But do you think you can understand?”

“I understood from the beginning.” Flint says “And I forgave you somewhere a little over the first year.” He looks out over the waves, unable to face Silver with that incredulous expression in his eyes.

“What?” Silver stares at him. “Then why...?”

Flint shrugs. “I’m stubborn too.”

This is the moment that if he were Silver, he’d punch himself. Instead Silver sits there and just starts laughing.

“That is the most stupid fucking thing I’ve ever heard. If I didn’t…” He stops and just shakes his head.

“Didn’t want?” Flint probes it gently, needing every word, every thought here.

“Didn’t want you so badly.” Silver says bluntly.

Flint frowns faintly. “Is that why you said that…what you said when you first arrived?”

_”I suppose he’d object if we fucked.”_

He has no answer to that, even though it wasn’t really even a question when Silver said it. He’s never spoken of that with Thomas, and now Flint wonders just how much he’s missed by not admitting that thought is buried there under layers of denial and refusal to see how things truly were between them.

To his credit, Silver doesn’t pretend not to know what he’s talking about. His shoulders hunch for a moment, as though bracing himself.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never thought about it.”

Flint remains silent and Silver laughs very softly.

“So I was right.”

“You make it sound inevitable.” Flint lets his irritation show.

Now Silver looks at him. “Wasn’t it?” He leans back against the counter. “If we had kept on...if the war had continued. Sooner or later, one of those nights I would have come to your cabin.”

“Is that so?” Flint’s not sure he believes this. At the time he didn’t even let himself dream of it. “Why didn’t you then?”

“At first I didn’t much care for the notion of getting punched if I was wrong.” Silver smiles, touching his bruised jaw wryly. “I didn’t know about Thomas then, remember? I had only the way you looked at me to go by.”

There’s a question on Flint’s lips. It would be simple to ask it. He cannot bring himself to utter it.

After a moment Silver seems to understand this and continues. “And later, there was Madi and I had no map to go by there either or with you. With you, I thought I was caught up in your spell and then freed, emerging a stronger, equal partner.”

“And with Madi?” Flint can ask this question. He needs to know the answer to this.

“It was the first time I knew I was in love.” Silver says simply.

He licks his lips, eyes focusing on the waves. “Or to be more truthful. The first time I let myself recognize it.”

There’s a tightness wrapping itself harder and harder around Flint’s chest, making it difficult to breathe.

“Why’re you telling me this now?”

Silver cocks his head, looking at him with bemused eyes. “Because this is the last time we’ll see each other, isn’t it?”

Flint gives a little shrug. “There’s no reason it has to be.” He murmurs. He thinks of what Silver said.

"And Madi?" Flint's voice is soft. "Has she forgiven you?" He would have thought that mattered to Silver.

Silver shrugs "In truth, I don't know. She has never said the words, and I don't expect her to. But she comes to me and lets me hold her." His hands clench for a moment, "And in the morning when I wake and she's still in my bed. I think that is enough."

Flint eyes him. "So for me you needed forgiveness, but from her you'll do without?" The audacity of Silver still took his breath away at times. In all honesty he wouldn’t have him any other way.

"I don't _need_ forgiveness from you." There's a hard set to Silver's mouth as he states this. 

"Then why," Flint begins.

"I _want_ it." Silver shifts, facing him directly in the sand. "It's different. You have something beyond the war, something you always wanted, something you will always want. That's why I think you should forgive me." His hands move restlessly. "But Madi? It's not the same for her? I am not the same for her though I love her with my breath and limbs and bone. I'm just a one-legged man, trying to hold on to that and make her happy as much as I can, even though I know it will never truly be enough.”

Flint reached over and places his hand over Silver's, stilling his restlessness. "She has you, she has Jamie, and she has her people." 

Silver blinks at him. 

"I cannot claim to know whether she'll ever fully forgive you." Flint admits. 

"But I am also glad she's alive."

He raises Silver's hand to his mouth and presses his lips against the rough sun-tanned skin of Silver’s knuckles.

Silver's eyes are bluer than the sea waves, slapping lazily against the shore as he gazes wordlessly at him and Flint reaches up to cradle his jaw gently between his fingers.

"I have missed you, you know." His mouth finds Silver's at last, kissing the half-sob away as Silver leans into him, into this long-awaited kiss.

Their lips meet softly at first, and then there is only the rasp of their breath, mingling together. Flint finds his hand dropping to clutch at Silver’s shirt, as their tongues move together like a storm coming to an end, relentless, starving, but slowing, the calm after the flood. He had dreamed of this for so long, and never even spoken of it. Now his forehead rests against Silver’s as they both drew apart, now here they were.

Silver draws a shaky breath. “Now I can die a satisfied man.”

Flint’s fingers dig sharply through his shirt to grip his shoulder and Silver yelps.

“What was that for?” He stares accusingly at Flint.

“You’re not allowed to die now just because I’ve kissed you.” Flint’s voice is steady. “What would be the point?”

“What’s the point in not?” Silver counters darkly.

Flint just shakes his head. “The point is you won’t get more kisses if you’re dead.”

Silver cocks his head at him. “You’d be surprised. I know the love you can carry for a dead man, and maybe that’s what it’d take.”

  
Flint’s hand catches him by the nape of the neck, fingers clutching tightly at Silver’s curls. “Do you need me to say it so badly?” He kisses Silver’s surprised lips, roughly claiming his mouth before he draws off to speak again. “I love you and I will love you long past your last breath, but don’t even think of dy-”

Silver’s chuckle stops his words and Flint just stares at him. “Fuck you.”

“And fuck you too.” Silver smiles. “I just wanted to hear you say it.”

“Are you happy now?” Flint wants to growl at him, but the words come out so much softer.

“You know.” Silver pauses and then looks over his shoulder back at the awning where Madi sits with Thomas, Jamie playing at their feet. He looks back at the ocean where sunlight is dancing overhead and the blue of the waves stretches out as far as he could see.

He looks back at Flint sitting beside him and smiles faintly at him. “I believe I am.”

* * *

Thomas hugs Jamie first and then passes her to James who holds her small frame carefully in his arms.

“I’ll write to you.” Jamie announces “Will you write back and tell me stories?”

“Of course.” James kisses her head, tears threatening to fill his eyes before he could stop them. He blinks them away quickly, feeling like a fool. There’s no need for tears now. 

Silver shakes Thomas’s hand and Thomas holds his for a moment. “What you said at the wedding.” His eyes are gentle, gazing upon Silver’s face. “Thank you. You’re always welcome in our home.”

Silver looks at him contemplatively. “I believe you actually mean that.”

“Come back and find out.” Thomas smiles before turning to Madi.

“Madi.” He hugs her. “Thank you for coming.”

She whispers. “I needed to know for certain.”

“I know.” Thomas murmurs. “I know.”

Madi turns to James and there are no words as they embrace. He holds her tightly.

“Take care of yourself.” He says

“Of myself?” Madi repeats. “Not of him?”

James rolls his eyes. “Take care of him too.”

“I will.” Madi squeezes his hand gently. “On both accounts.” She kisses his cheek and takes Jamie’s hand, giving Silver a nod.

James stands there like a statue, strangely unwilling to say farewell to Silver again. How is he supposed to speak these words? He looks helplessly at Thomas who merely nods at him encouragingly.

He turns back to Silver who stands there silently, his hand gripping the top of his crutch like it’s the only thing keeping him standing.

James reaches out and places his hand over Silver’s fingers. They relax immediately under his touch and he finds the words he wants to say.

“You’ll come back.” James says. It’s not a question, just a simple fact. He knows somehow in his heart that something, the universe, Poseidon, some force of nature, will keep Silver from leaving unless he promised to return. _He_ won’t let Silver leave until Silver gives him that promise.

“I’ll come back.” Silver promises naturally. He raises his eyes at James, the smile lurking there in the ocean blue. “Perhaps I’ll wait long enough for you to miss me again.”

“I’ll always miss you.” The words fly free before James can catch them.

Silver studies his face. “I didn’t do this so you’d miss me.” He whispers. “Be happy, James.” He leans up to kiss James’s mouth once more, a brush of his lips that set James’s lips alight with longing. “I’ll see you again.”

Then he and Madi and Jamie make their way down the dock to the waiting sloop.

* * *

James and Thomas stand there together, watching them make their way out to the waiting ship. Somehow James can’t leave until it weighs anchor and Thomas seems to know that, staying by his side, his hand in James’s.

Out there aboard the ship, it seems to James he can see a small figure watching them from the railing.

“He’ll come back, won’t he?” He says gruffly, half to himself, half to Thomas, his eyes still on that lingering figure. “He has to.”

“I think he will.” Thomas murmurs. “After all, he promised you.” He squeezes James’s hand, and James squeezes it back, thankfully.

Still he stands there, with Thomas beside him, until the ship carrying Silver away from him is a faint blur on the horizon. Only then can James turn and say, “Let’s go home.”


End file.
